06-29-2008, 02:06 PM
I think the gameplay of Diablo III looks like it will be a blast. I'm guessing that there will be more of a focus on providing everyone with effective AoE skills than there was in Diablo II. Things like leap attack and charge were designed with AoE effects in mind rather than just single target effects, as in D2. In addition, at the start of the trailer the Barbarian seemed to be using an attack that was hitting multiple monsters in an arc in front of him. That sort of addition to the arsenal will certainly promise a fast-paced action game that looked like a blast to play.
As far as the Barbarian, I thought that its gameplay looked pretty addictive. It seems much more frenetic than was seen in Diablo 2 since the Barbarian seems to be loaded up with movement-based skills that allow it to easy slide from place to place in the battleground. I noted that he seems to have inherited the charge skill from D2's Paladin as well as a quasi-zeal sort of the skill (the frontal arc attack skill). I wonder if this means that we'll be seeing a lot of hybrid character type design in D3 where they take some aspects of one class and add them to another class, adding depth and other options to the final class design.
I was a little disappointed to see that the Witch Doctor's skill set likely means that there won't be a Necromancer in the game. I always really liked the feel of the Necromancer, so seeing the crazed savage sort of look of the Witch Doctor takes away some of that. However, I DO like that they have come up with a good way to handle corpse (or minion!) explosion without the need for corpses to start from. That should be an entertaining skill to use! It seems like they took the pet design and fire attacks of the druid and matched it with the poison, bone and fear attacks of the necromancer in making the Witch Doctor. I will look forward to seeing how that works out.
It should be interesting to see what sort of a skill system gets put into the game. D1 was totally different from D2, so I wouldn't necessarily think that D3 will follow the design of D2's skills. Personally, I'd like to see a limited base skill set for each class with some additional skills and enhancements provided via some sort of skill/talent tree. If they made it sort of a hybrid of D2 and WoW (that is, a few base skills compared with the 0 of D2 and tons of WoW), then I think it will keep things interesting. In the demos, it looked like each character had a ton of different skills to choose from, so maybe it won't be so limited as it was in D2 where it felt like you used one or two skills exclusively.
Finally, I really liked all of the little details that were put into the skills. The way things get stomped into the ground with leap attack is pretty awesome, as is the fire elemental that explodes out of the Witch Doctor's fire bomb attack or the visage that floats in the air over the Witch Doctor when it uses its fear attack. Those sorts of details should add some flash and finish to the game that will keep things interesting. :)
As far as the Barbarian, I thought that its gameplay looked pretty addictive. It seems much more frenetic than was seen in Diablo 2 since the Barbarian seems to be loaded up with movement-based skills that allow it to easy slide from place to place in the battleground. I noted that he seems to have inherited the charge skill from D2's Paladin as well as a quasi-zeal sort of the skill (the frontal arc attack skill). I wonder if this means that we'll be seeing a lot of hybrid character type design in D3 where they take some aspects of one class and add them to another class, adding depth and other options to the final class design.
I was a little disappointed to see that the Witch Doctor's skill set likely means that there won't be a Necromancer in the game. I always really liked the feel of the Necromancer, so seeing the crazed savage sort of look of the Witch Doctor takes away some of that. However, I DO like that they have come up with a good way to handle corpse (or minion!) explosion without the need for corpses to start from. That should be an entertaining skill to use! It seems like they took the pet design and fire attacks of the druid and matched it with the poison, bone and fear attacks of the necromancer in making the Witch Doctor. I will look forward to seeing how that works out.
It should be interesting to see what sort of a skill system gets put into the game. D1 was totally different from D2, so I wouldn't necessarily think that D3 will follow the design of D2's skills. Personally, I'd like to see a limited base skill set for each class with some additional skills and enhancements provided via some sort of skill/talent tree. If they made it sort of a hybrid of D2 and WoW (that is, a few base skills compared with the 0 of D2 and tons of WoW), then I think it will keep things interesting. In the demos, it looked like each character had a ton of different skills to choose from, so maybe it won't be so limited as it was in D2 where it felt like you used one or two skills exclusively.
Finally, I really liked all of the little details that were put into the skills. The way things get stomped into the ground with leap attack is pretty awesome, as is the fire elemental that explodes out of the Witch Doctor's fire bomb attack or the visage that floats in the air over the Witch Doctor when it uses its fear attack. Those sorts of details should add some flash and finish to the game that will keep things interesting. :)
-TheDragoon